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bears,” the show didn’t offer much in the way of practical knowledge. Focus , I told myself. What was once merely an annoying work trip was now a matter of surviving an adverse situation. We needed lists, organization, prep. Fortunately, I lived for this sort of thing.

4
    In Which Bonnie Gets the Donner Party Warning
    I clapped my hands together, using my most authoritative office voice. “Okay, first things first: Who knows we’re here besides Commissioner Bidwell?”
    Luke stepped forward, his eyebrows raised. “I called my supervisors at the parks department to let them know I had emergency guests. They’re aware of our situation and the number of people.”
    I nodded. “Okay, that’s good. That outside awareness keeps us accountable and prevents us from murdering each other when someone inevitably drinks the last of the coffee. Also, we need to figure out our heating situation, because it’s getting a bit nippy in here.”
    â€œThe lobby fireplace and the fireplace in the dining room are both wood-burning, because the management wanted to keep up the ambience,” Luke said. “We just got a load of firewood, so we should have enough to keep it going for a while.”
    â€œGreat,” I said. “That’s a great start. We need someone to go into as many rooms as possible and drag the comforters off the beds and into the dining room. And we’ll need mattresses too, if we can get them. We’re going to need duct tape to tape some of the blankets over the doors to trap the heat in the dining room. We may not actually need a full-on dining room refugee camp; we could get the power back before we have to sleep in there. But it’s better to do it now instead of waiting until we know we’re going to need it and ending up stumbling around the hotel in the dark, trying to set up.”
    â€œWhy not the lobby?” Josh asked, putting his arm around my best friend. “It’s got a bigger fireplace.”
    I shook my head, eyeing the wood beams crisscrossing the cathedral ceilings. “The ceilings are too high. It would be too hard to keep warm.”
    Sadie nudged Josh and grinned at him. “This is why we hired her. Just sit back and let her work through her checklist.”
    â€œIs there a disaster preparedness kit?” I asked.
    â€œIn the office,” Luke said, “along with some Coleman lanterns and emergency supplies.”
    â€œAwesome, you bring them into the dining room as we set up camp.”
    â€œYou do realize that I’m the one who’s supposed to be having this conversation with them, yes?” Luke asked, gesturing to the assembled survivors.
    My cheeks went hot. “Sorry about that.”
    â€œNo, no, you were right. I just needed to reestablish my authority. If I let civilians walk in and stage a coup, my boss gets all upset with me.” He turned to the group and pointed at me. “Everything that she just said.”
    Sadie rounded up the troops to scavenge bedding from the first-floor guest rooms. She called out buddy assignments and insisted on a check-in within twenty minutes. Charlie cast a long look over his shoulder as he wandered down the hall with Tom, frowning at me. That was new.
    â€œKels, I’m going to go use the last of Josh’s cell phone battery to call the commissioner and update him on our situation.”
    â€œWant me to run interference?” I offered. “I can make feedback noises in the background or pretend that there’s a conference call coming through or something.”
    She winked at me, heading for a quiet corner. “Nah, I think he knows something like this is coming.”
    â€œSo, uh, what do you do, at your office?” Luke asked.
    â€œKeep everything organized and running on an even keel. Put out fires, figurative and literal, sometimes. On good days, I keep Josh and Sadie from killing each other. On bad days, I have to keep them